CW Gives ‘The Tomorrow People’ A Pilot Order

The CW continues to prove that they want to be the network for sci-fi fans as they have just given the green light for a pilot order to reboot the 1970’s British television series ‘The Tomorrow People’.

The series is described as ‘X-Men’ meets ‘Heroes/Alphas’ and follows a group of teens who are scattered across the globe who are considered the “next stage in human evolution”. Being in this “next stage” allows them to have special powers such as telepathy, telekinesis and teleportation. If CW decides to give the pilot a series order, the show would focus on these teens coming together in order to master their abilities and defeat the forces of evil (lead by a bald man in a wheelchair – I jest).

The series will be produced by Greg Berlanti and Julie Plec who already have a very good relationship with the network as the former is the Executive Producer of their hit show ‘Arrow’ while the latter is the EP for ‘The Vampire Diaries.’ The pilot will be written by Phil Klemmer (‘Chuck,’ ‘Undercovers,’ ‘Political Animals’), who is also listed to executive produce.

‘The Tomorrow People’ has a special place in Berlanti and Plec’s hearts as they are big fans of the original series and together, they worked for 10 years tracking down the rights to the show. The UK series ran for 6 seasons (from 1973-1979) and spawned a comic book, audiobooks, and a re-boot in the 90’s. In the 1980’s, Nickelodeon aired the original series for US audiences.

The pilot order is just one of many sci-fi projects brewing over at the CW. The network is also developing ‘The Hundred’ ( a post-apocalyptic project set 97 years after a nuclear war and centers on 100 juvenile delinquents who are sent back to Earth to determine if the planet can be re-inhabited), ‘Oxygen’ (a ‘Roswell’ type of show which centers on high school aliens and humans cohabiting together on Earth), ‘The Originals’ (a spin-off of ‘The Vampire Diaries), and ‘The Selection’ (a project that was held over from last year with a ‘Hunger Games’ meets the ‘Bachelor’ tagline).

Whether we’ll see any of these projects next fall will all be determined on whether the network execs are happy with the pilots. One only needs to see the progress of ‘Powers’ to see that getting a pilot order does not necessarily mean the project will go to series. Regardless, it’s great to see that the CW is becoming a place where the genre can call home.

What do you think? Are any of these pilots something you’d like to see become a series?

Janice Kay

Janice's first memories of the genre were of watching the original 'Star Trek' and classic 'Doctor Who' episodes (Tom Baker, aka the Fourth Doctor, was her first). Soon, she was introduced to 'Godzilla' and her addiction then spread to books, magazines, movies and comics. Janice continued as a closet geek as her thirst and love for sci-fi grew and was only second to her love of baking. Then one night, on a whim, she answered a tweet to be a writer for ScienceFiction.com and the geek girl insider her was soon set free. Within 3 years she became the Senior Editor for the site. When not writing or editing for ScienceFiction.com, Janice is scouring the internet to feed her sci-fi cravings while defending conspiracy theories, protecting scientific theorems and loving all things science fiction.... and baking cookies.